Music at Treeton C of E Primary School

At Treeton C of E Primary School we follow the National Curriculum.

The Power of Music

“Music is all around us. It is the soundtrack to our lives. Music connects us through people and places in our ever-changing world. It is creative, collaborative, celebratory and challenging. In our schools, music can bring communities together through the shared endeavour of whole-school singing, ensemble playing, experimenting with the creative process and, through the love of listening to friends and fellow pupils, performing. The sheer joy of music making can feed the soul of a school community, enriching each student while strengthening the shared bonds of support and trust which make a great school. ” (Quotation from the DfE’s Model Music Curriculum).

At our school, we understand the importance of music to connect children to others (working as a team to create and perform) while at the same time encouraging creativity and discipline. We know that  working together, being creative and practising in a disciplined way teaches our children to be disciplined, resilient, confident learners, and music enables all of this to happen. This is why music plays such a crucial part of our curriculum at our school.

Our Music Curriculum:

We follow the national curriculum for music. Here is a link to the national curriculum documentation:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-music-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-music-programmes-of-study

Aims and ambitions for music:

Our aim is for all pupils to:

1. Perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians.

2. Learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence.

3. Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the interrelated dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

How have we designed our curriculum?

We use the Charanga scheme to structure our curriculum. We chose this scheme because it sequences learning in music throughout each year group and supports our staff well to deliver the music curriculum.

The scheme covers the following in each lesson:

Intent:

Throughout our school we deliver Music through the Charanga Musical School Scheme which is developed and provided by the Rotherham Music Service. We are extremely passionate about the teaching, learning and assessment of Music and we feel Music brings both adults and children joy and happiness. We deliver high quality teaching of Music through the Charanga Music scheme that engages and inspires pupils to develop an enjoyment and passion for Music. Through the National Curriculum we aim to assist children in developing their self-confidence, creativity and achievement within Music. As pupils progress through KS1 and KS2 they will develop they musical skills further which will allow the pupils to compose and perform successfully with an increased awareness of the knowledge and skills involved. We hope to inspire and give every child the opportunity to experience and enjoy music through a variety of fun and engaging opportunities. We also aim to promote pupils’ social, cultural, spiritual and global development through music.

Implementation:

Using the Charanga Musical Scheme ensures that all children across our school are developing their musical knowledge and skills. All pupils will develop their Musical skills in:

• Listening and appraising
• Singing and Musical instrument practise
• Composition
• Improvisation
• Performing and sharing

Teaching Music through the Charanga scheme allows the the delivery of Music to be tailored to the specific year group whilst exposing the children to a range of musical genres and musical styles. The scheme allows for differentiation within activities so the tasks and activities will challenge all learners. As a school we work closely with the Rotherham Music Service who provide us with opportunities to support the delivery in our school.

Impact:

Our Music curriculum will ensure all pupils develop key Music skills and knowledge, as set out by the national curriculum.

What do we expect our children to learn in music by the end of each key stage?

In early years:

1. Listen with increased attention to sounds.

2. Respond to what they have heard, expressing their thoughts and feelings.

3. Remember and sing entire songs.

4. Sing the pitch of a tune sung by another person (‘pitch match’).

5. Sing the melodic shape (moving melody, such as up and down, down and up) of familiar songs.

6. Sing in a group or on their own.

7. Create their own songs or improvise a song around one they know.

8. Play instruments with increasing control to express their feelings and ideas.

Key stage 1:

1. Use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes.

2. Play tuned and untuned instruments musically.

3. Listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music.

4. Experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the interrelated dimensions of music.

Key Stage 2:

By the time our pupils leave our school, we aim for them to be able to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They should develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory.

We teach pupils to:

1. Play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression.

2. Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music.

3. Listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory.

4. Use and understand staff and other musical notations.

5. Appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians.

6. Develop an understanding of the history of music.

Using Charanga at home:

Throughout our school, our teachers will frequently use Charanga to set home learning. This provides extra Music learning opportunities to support and develop the skills and knowledge of our pupils at Treeton.

Link to the Charanga website: https://charanga.com/site/